Lighter



Aug 2, 1966 L. DEXTER l 3,263,456

' LIGHTER Filed Aug. :3, 1964 2 .Sheei-,s-Slfleecl 1 NVENTOR.

Aug 2, 1966 1 s. DEXTER 3,263,456

LIGHTER Tiled Aug. 5, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W MMM ATTORNEY.

United States Patent O 3,263,456 LIGHTER Leonard S. Dexter, 29 Dewbourue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Aug. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 386,853 1 Claim. (Cl. 67-7.1)

The present invention relates to an improved lighter of the type which utilizes a compressed fuel such as butane.

In the past, lighters of the foregoing type required a mechanical linkage between a valve which released the fuel to be ignited and the spark wheel which generated a spark for such ignition. The foregoing construction was necessary in order to effect proper timing between the generation of the spark and the release of the fuel. However, linkages of the foregoing type caused previous lighters to be unduly complicated which not only caused them to be subject to malfunction but also increased their cost. It is with a lighter utilizing a compressed fuel which overcomes the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art that the present invention is concerned.

It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved lighter utilizing a compressed fuel which does not require a coordinating linkage between the mechanism for generating the spark and the valve for releasing the fuel. A related object of the present invention is to provide an improved lighter of the foregoing type which is capable of providing long troublefree operation by virtue of the simplicity of the igniting mechanism.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved lighter utilizing a fuel at above atmospheric pressure which does not release the fuel for ignition until after the spark has been struck thereby insuring maximum conservation of the fuel.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved lighter utilizing compressed fuel which includes a unique and highly reliable flame adjusting mechanism which can be operated by the user to suit his own particular needs. Oother objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter.

The improved lighter of the present invention includes a housing having a chamber therein for storing a fuel, such as butane, at above atmospheric pressure. A spark producing means such as a conventional spark wheel is mounted at one end of the housing between a nozzle which provides the gas to be ignited and a button for depressing a linkage which opens a valve associated with the nozzle. The spark wheel and the linkage are so located relative to each other that a persons thumb after leaving the spark wheel must invariably actuate the linkage and thus open the valve to release the fuel. By virtue of the foregoing construction there is no need to have any mechanical linkage interconnecting the spark generating wheel and the linkage for opening the valve. This being the case the instant lighter is unique in its simplicity. Furthermore, because the fuel is released only after the spark has been struck there is no possibility that there will be an unnecessary release of fuel and thus a waste thereof. The structure of the improved lighter of the present invention includes a unique arrangement for adjusting the size of the llame to meet the needs of any particular individual, thereby further effecting maximum conservation of the fuel supply. The present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational View of the improved lighter of the present invention;

' FIGURE 2 is an end elevational View of the lighter Patented August 2, 1966 of FIGURE 1 showing the relationship between the spark wheel and a portion of the linkage for opening the fuel releasing valve;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of the improved lighter of FIGURE 1 showing the portion thereof at which the flame exists and also showing the arrangement for adjusting the height of the ame;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view showing the relationship between the spark wheel, the portion of the linkage for opening the fuel releasing valve and the fuel nozzle;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view through the lighter taken substantially along line 5 5 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a detail view of the spark wheel and the arrangement for mounting the fuel valve opening lever taken substantially along line 6 6 of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a greatly enlarged cross sectional view showing the mechanism of the fuel releasing valve structure; and

FIGURE 8 is a greatly enlarged View showing the construction of the filling valve.

The improved lighter 10 of the present invention includes a decorative casing 11 which is slipped over and held in press fitted relationship with a fuel housing 12 (FIGURE 5) containing fuel chamber 13 therein. The limit of movement of decorative casing 11 onto housing 12 is determined by lower lip 14 on the latter. Chamber 13 contains a supply of liquified fuel such as butane and releases said fuel when the valve structure to be described hereafter is actuated.

The arrangement for actuating lighter 16 to produce a flame is mounted at the upper end 1S of the lighter and consists of a spark wheel 16, a nozzle 17 for directing a jet of fuel upwardly, and a lever 18 having a button 19 mounted thereon, said lever opening a valve mechanism to release the gas when button 19 is depressed. At this juncture it is to be noted that spark wheel 16 is rotated in a clockwise direction in FIGURE 5 by a persons thumb. When this is done a spark will be generated. However, by virtue of the inherent action of the persons thumb in leaving spark wheel 16 while the body of the lighter is grasped by the remainder of the hand, the persons thumb will immediately fall onto button 19 to thereby pivot lever 18 about its fulcrum 20 (FIGURE 6) and thus lift nozzle 17 to release the fuel intime to be ignited by the spark which was previously generated. Air for combustion is supplied through apertures 20 in casing 11. The foregoing sequence of operation and the structure for achieving the above function will be described in greater detail hereafter.

The spark generating mechanism includes a spark wheel 16 having a central aperture therein which receives pin 21 extending between upstanding arms 22 which in turn are portions of a U-shaped member 23 having the lower end 24 thereof welded to the upper surface 25 of housing 12. The end portion 26 of pin 21 is threaded into one of said arms 22 to thereby retain the pin in its assembled position. A tubular member 27 has its upper end 28 located immediately below spark wheel 16 and a flint 29 is biased upwardly into engagement with spark wheel 16 by spring 30 which in turn is held within tubular member 27 by screw 31.

As noted above when spark wheel 16 is rotated in a clockwise direction by a persons thumb the relative movement between said spark wheel and flint 29 will cause a spark to be generated which will ily to the left toward nozzle 17 in FIGURE 5. However, as also noted above, at the time of generation of the spark, the valve which releases fuel for fiow through nozzle 17 has not yet been opened. This opening, however, is invariably effected subsequent to the generation of the spark by virtue of t'he fact that the persons thumb in leaving spark wheel 16 must fall onto button 19 especially since it is so guided by the curved surface 32 at the upper end 15 of casing 11.v As soon as the thumb engages button 19 it will depress the right end of lever 18 downwardly in FIGURE and thus cause this lever, which is of the first class type, to pivot in a clockwise direction about its fulcrum 20 which is at the bottom of downwardly depending legs 33 (FIGURES 5 and 6). The clockwise rotation of lever 18 will result in the upward movement of the bifurcated end 34 of said lever and the lifting of nozzle 17. At this point it is to be noted that the bifurcated end 34 has tines 35 (FIGURE 7) which straddle the neck 36 of nozzle 17 and underlie shoulder 37. Therefore the upward movement of bifurcated end 34 will be accompanied by the upward movement of nozzle 17 which in turn will cause the valve mechanism within the fuel releasing valve 38 to be actuated to release the fuel which is ignited by the previously generated spark.

The fuel releasing valve mechanism 38 includes a housing 39 having a threaded portion 40 which is received in mating tapped aperture 41 in the top of housing 12, a gasket 42 insuring a fiuid tight fit. A throttling cap 43 is threaded onto threaded neck 44 at the bottom of housing 39, the fit between the threads being sufficiently loose to permit fuel to fiow therebetween and to be throttled to a lower pressure. A packing 45 which is made of a porous foam-like material such as rubber is located in the llower end of housing 39 and further restricts the fiow of the fuel to thereby reduce its pressure as it travels upwardly within the housing. A washer 46 having a slot 47 at its upper end underlying aperture 48 permits the fuel to pass through said aperture 48 and into chamber 49 in which O-ring 50 is located. The fuel in chamber 49 will communicate with chamber 50 throug-h conduit 51 in flame adjusting body member 52.

At this point it is to be noted that a poppet valve 53 is located at the lower end of nozzle 17 and its inclined face 54 presses against O-ring seal 55 to trap the fuel within chamber 50. Poppet valve 53 has a shoulder 56 therein which is engaged by spring 57 having its upper end in engagement with shoulder 58 of the flame adjusting member 60. Whenever lever 18 is pivoted in a clockwise direction, as described above, the bifurcated end portion 34 thereof will engage shoulder 37 of nozzle 17 and move the nozzle upwardly thereby unseating poppet valve 53 from O-ring 55 and permitting the fuel previously held within chamber 50 to pass upwardly into aperture 61 and through conduit 62 prior to emanating from the top of nozzle 17.

As long as button 19 is maintained in a depressed condition fuel will continue to flow from nozzle 17 and the flame will remain. However as soon as button 19 is released spring 57 will expand to cause poppet valve 53 to reseat itself on O-ring 55 to thereby terminate the flow of fuel from nozzle 17.

Included within housing 38 is an unique arrangement for varying the size of the flame produced at nozzle 17. More specifically a knurled collar 63 is provided with a wheel 64 (FIGURE 5) mounted thereon in mating relationship and held by set screw 65. If it is desired to vary the size of the ame, it is merely necessary to rotate Wheel 64 and thus change the relative axial positions between the casing 65 which 'houses spring 57 and the housing 38 which is mounted within the fuel containing housing 12. This in turn will either raise or lower the shoulder 37 of nozzle 17 with respect to bifurcated end portion 34 of lever 18. Assuming that it was raised, the subsequent movement of lever 18 in a clockwise direction will be unable to separate inclined surface 54 of poppet valve 53 from O-ring 55 to as great an extent as it could separate them prior to such raising and thus the flow of gas passing between O-ring 55 and inclined surface 54 will be throttled to a greater extent and a smaller flame will be obtained at nozzle 17. Conversely, if it is desired to provide a larger flame, wheel 64 is rotated to cause the casing 65 to move downwardly and axially relative to housing 38 by virtue of the threaded connection therebetween at 66 and thus cause shoulder 37 to move downwardly and approach the top 25 of housing 12. Thus, when lever 18 is pivoted in a clockwise direction during lighting of the lighter, the nozzle 17 will move upwardly a greater amount than before it was lowered and thus increase the space between O-ring 55 and inclined poppet valve surface 54 to thereby permit more fuel to pass through nozzle 17 upon actuation of the lighter to thus provide a larger flame.

Because of the tight fit between interengaging threads 66, once the size of the flame is adjusted it will hold its adjustment until it is readjusted. In the foregoing respect it can be seen from FIGURE 5 that flanges 67 are provided on the underside of lever 18 and these will limit the downward movement of the right side of lever 18 in FIGURE 5 because they will engage the top surface 25 of housing 21 every time that button 19 is depressed. Thus, because of the positive stop provided by the top 25 of housing 12 t-he left end including the bifurcated portion 34 of lever 18 will always be limited as to how high it can move and thus by varying the vertical position of shoulder 37 of nozzle 17 in the above described manner, the amount of opening produced by poppet valve 53 can be adjusted.

The improved lighter 10 of the present invention also includes a refil'l valve 70 (FIGURES 5 and 8) which includes a threaded neck 71 which is received in the bottom 72 of housing 12 in mating threaded relationship, threaded neck 71 forming a part of valve housing 72. An O-ring 73 provides a seal between the housing 12 and the refill valve. Pressed onto housing 72 is a housing extension 74, the pressing being effected at 75. A nozzle 76 having a conduit 77 is biased with shoulder 78 against seat 79 by a spring 80 extending between shoulder 81 of housing extension 74 and shoulder 82 of member 83. Seal 79 is held in position between the end 84 of housing portion 72 and shoulder 78 when the valve is closed. The conduit 77 within nozzle 76 terminates at radial apertures 85. When nozzle 76 is moved downwardly against the bias of spring 80 during filling radial apertures 85 will move past seal 79 so that fuel may flow through conduit 77, through radial apertures 85 and into the chamber in which spring 80 is located, thence through aperture 86 into chamber 13 of housing 12 where it is stored. It will be appreciated that nozzle 76 is depressed during the sealing of chamber 12 by a suitable arrangement on the filling container (not shown). After the filling container is removed, spring 80 will expand to return all the parts to the position shown in the drawing wherein sealing is again effected so that the fuel Within chamber 13 cannot leak. A cap 87 threads into aperture 88 within the refill valve t0 prevent dirt and the like from entering said valve, cap 87 being removed during the filling operation.

It can thus be seen that the improved lighter of the present invention is manifestly capable of achieving the above enumerated objects and while a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed, it will readily be appreciated that the present invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise embodied.

I claim:

A lighter comprising a first housing, a chamber in said first housing for storing a fuel at above atmospheric pressure, a spark wheel mounted at one end of said first housing, a fuel nozzle located proximate said spark wheel and at one side thereof, a lever having a first end thereof located at said end of said first housing on the opposite side of said spark wheel from said fuel nozzle whereby a persons finger leaving said spark wheel must invariably fall on said first end of said lever, valve means mounted proximate said fuel nozzle and supporting said fuel nozzle, said valve means including a second housing having lan internal portion thereof in communication with said chamber in said first housing, a third housing mounted on said second housing and having a portion thereof in communication with said internal portion of said second housing and a portion thereof in communication with said nozzle, poppet valve means on said third housing for preventing the flow of fuel in said internal portion of said second housing through said nozzle, spring means in said second housing for biasing said poppet valve means to a closed position, said nozzle forming a part of said poppet valve means, interengaging means coupling said nozzle and a second end of said lever which is opposite to said rst end, said spring means biasing said lever to a tirst position when said poppet valve means are closed, said lever including a central portion pivotally mounted on said first housing, stop means for limiting pivotal movement of said lever to a predetermined amount to a second position when actuated by said persons nger against the bias of said spring means, and means for moving said second and third housings relative to each other in an axial direction to vary the amount of opening movement provided by said poppet valve means when said poppet valve means are moved in response to the depressing of said rst end of said lever by said linger to thereby provide 6 an arrangement for adjusting the amount of flow of said fuel from said nozzle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED sTATEs PATENTS 2,153,432 4/1939 Reich 67 7.1

3,050,973 9/1962 Goddard 67-.7.1

3,114,249 12/1963 Lewerrrhal 67-21 3,122,907 3/1964 Gilberrerr 67 7.1

3,133,565 5/1964 Ikeda 67 7.1

3,161,034 12/1964 Meyers 67-7.1

' FOREIGN PATENTS 1,303,862 8/1962 France.

1,308,689 10/1962 France.

939,181 10/1963 Great Britain.

LLOYD L. KNG, Primary Examiner'.

20 FREDERICK L. MATTESON, IR., Examiner. 

